33,000 troops home in time for elections

US President
Barack Obama
has outlined aggressive plans to bring 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan by next northern summer as he says “the tide of war is receding" and it is time for “nation building here at home".

The announcement was the first step in fulfilling a promise to begin withdrawing troops from the war in Afghanistan – the longest in American history – that he made two years ago when ordering the 30,000 troop “surge" aimed at pegging back Taliban gains and stabilising the chaotic country.

Mr Obama stopped short of claiming that the Afghan war’s goals – the defeat of al-Qaeda, the reversal of Taliban momentum and the training of Afghan security forces to defend their country – had been achieved.

He said instead: “We are meeting our goals." He portrayed the decision to begin the drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan as part of bringing a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan to an end to concentrate on the domestic challenges of weak economic growth and lingering high unemployment. Six thousand Americans have died in the two wars, which Mr Obama inherited from the Bush administration.

“Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war at a time of rising debt and hard economic times. Now, we must invest in America’s greatest resource – our people," he said. “America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home."

Mr Obama faces an election next year with unemployment likely to remain well above 8 per cent amid a sputtering economic recovery and persistent criticism that his administration is anti-business and lacks policies to instil confidence and kick-start a sustainable private sector recovery.

The aggressive troop withdrawal timetable will at least enable him to point to large numbers of young American men and women returning home as the election campaign reaches fever pitch towards the end of summer.

It is faster than military experts – including the outgoing Afghan forces commander and incoming CIA director General David Petraeus – wanted. Mr Obama’s opponent in the 2008 election, Republican senator
John McCain
, is one who thinks the rapid pace of withdrawals could undermine the gains of the troop surge. But it is slower than that which a clear majority of war weary Americans want, according to recent Pew and CBS polls.

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The war is also increasingly unpopular in Congress. And the billions of dollars saved will help the Obama administration to claim that it is pulling out all the stops to cut budget deficits running at $US1.5 trillion ($1.4 trillion) annually.

Starting next month, 10,000 troops will be withdrawn this year and a ­further 23,000 by next northern summer. After that, withdrawals will continue at a steady rate until 2014.

“Our mission will change from combat to support," Mr Obama said.

“By 2014, this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security."

He said the American troops were starting the withdrawals “from a position of strength".

However, Afghanistan remains a violent place and critics say that not enough Afghan civilians have come forward to fill roles currently being undertaken by American soldiers.

As American troops withdraw, attention will turn to efforts to forge a political settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The US will host a NATO summit in Chicago in May next year at which the next steps in the transition to Afghan-led security will be con­sidered.